SPECIAL COMMENTARY Formula For Communal Peace San Antonio, Tex. they were elected to the board of fed- f Aryeh Scheinberg was your eration, they would be acknowledged typical Orthodox rabbi, the as members of the Jewish community. Jewisl community of San Anto- No one is saying they're more than nio would be engulfed right they are. Nor are they less than they now in an ugly fight that would leave are. everyone a loser, most of all the chil- Folks say Rabbi Scheinberg's per- dren. But Rabbi Scheinberg isn't typi- sonality is the key to the harmonious cal, and the Jews of south relations in San Antonio. Texas are at peace. "You understand intel- Last August, the communi- lectually that as an Ortho- ty opened its spanking-new dox rabbi, he might not campus, bringing the Jewish recognize us religiously as federation, family service, Jews," says Judy Koch. "But community center and San personally you would never Antonio's sole Jewish day be aware of it, because he school under one $18-million treats us with such respect." roof. "It's an amazing place," Part of the credit also says Pat Tonkin, who became relates to the quarter-centu- J.J. GOLDBERG ry friendship between the day school's headmistress Special to in July. "We're all in it togeth- Rabbi Scheinberg and the Jewish News er. " Rabbi Samuel Stahl of Tonkin credits much of the Temple Beth-El, the good feeling to Rabbi Scheinberg, Reform congregation. They cooperate whose Congregation Rodfei Sholom is on everything from the day school to about a mile from campus. "He uni- Israel Independence Day to co-offici- fies this community," she says. ating at weddings — although, Rabbi Tonkin can rattle off a list of Rabbi Stahl notes, "it has to follow his rules. Scheinberg's qualities, but the most He will take the halacha to its furthest remarkable is probably the fact that he point, but that's as far as he will go. - works with her at all. She was convert- It's the only way we can work togeth- ed to Judaism by a Reform rabbi 14 er, and I understand." years ago. By Orthodox standards, Mutual compromise makes San she's not Jewish. Yet since she took Antonio Jewry a rare island of peace. over the school this summer, Rabbi A community of 10,000 in a city of Scheinberg has accorded her every due one million, it boasts five congrega- respect. tions, one each from Reconstructionist Tonkin isn't Rabbi Scheinberg's through Lubavitch. The friendship only fan. Judy Koch, a Reform con- between Rabbis Scheinberg and Stahl, vert and administrator of the commu- the community's acknowledged patri- nity campus, says Reform converts are archs, sets the tone for everyone. "It's a "interwoven as Jews in this communi- very unusual community," says federa- ty in our professional and religious tion director Mark Freedman. lives, and it's been his leadership that's Rabbi Scheinberg, a cherubic, beard- helped make it possible." ed man of 60, was raised in Brooklyn, Rabbi Scheinberg says his approach ordained at a right-wing yeshiva and to Reform converts isn't all that revo- came to San Antonio 30 years ago. San lutionary. He decided several years ago Antonio Jewry has since doubled in size. that while they weren't Jews under tra- His congregation has tripled. Rabbi ditional rabbinic law, it was hard to Scheinberg denies he's sacrificed any deny they'd become members of the Orthodox principle in seeking peace. Jewish community in some genuine As for his congregants, their piety sense. In effect, he's developed a sort grows steadily. Most Orthodox syna- of second category: Jewish in commu- gogues outside America's biggest cities nal terms, but not religiously. have full parking lots every Saturday, "If a convert wanted to come to my with only a small core fully observant. shul and be counted in a minyan, or Rabbi Scheinberg's core is so strong get married, that would be problemat- that he moved his shul last year to a ic," Rabbi Scheinberg says. "But if suburban enclave he had built, Shalom Drive, with a sanctuary sur- J.J. Goldberg is a national columnist rounded by homes for families want- and author on Jewish issues. His work ing to live within walking distance. includes the book `Jewish Power: Inside Rabbi Scheinberg is unique. Coop- the American Jewish Establishment." eration with Reform Jews has become He can be reached via e-mail at such a loaded issue among Orthodox jjg@compuserve.com rabbis that merely suggesting Reform I converts aren't a threat brings instant condemnation. "We're reaching a point in all the movements where our ideologies have begun to trump our love of the Jewish people," says Rabbi Irwin Kula of CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, which pro- motes inter-movement dialogue. "What's happening in San Antonio seems unique. The question is, how much is because it's San Antonio, and how much is because two people [Rabbis Scheinberg and Stahl] were in TAPPER'S IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS FROM NOON-5 P.M. Mutual compromise makes San Antonio Jewry a rare island of peace. a relationship that allowed each to understand the other's basic needs. That's genuine pluralism." Rabbi Scheinberg almost met the limits of his pluralism this summer, when Pat Tonkin was hired as San Antonio's day-school principal. Besides being a Reform convert, she's married to a non-Jew. She adopted Judaism as a divorced mother in Houston, drawn by conviction. During her conversion, she says, the rabbi somehow "never, ever said to me" that she was expected to marry a Jew. Since then she's acquired much more knowledge. She's also acquired a husband. Rabbi Scheinberg says Tonkin's combination of professional skills, per- sonal qualities, plus Jewish learning and commitment, made her the obvi- ous choice for principal. Still, close to one-third of the school's 115 students come from his congregation. How then to educate against intermarriage, when their headmistress is herself intermarried, isn't simple. Rabbi Scheinberg "could have taken the easy way out," says Rabbi Stahl, by simply saying she's not Jew- ish, so it doesn't matter whom she marries. But he didn't do that. He chose to struggle with it." Rabbi Scheinberg says he's not wor- ried. "We'll find a solution," he says. 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